Education

‘Mom, I won! I'm a Rhodes scholar!' Alexandria native earns prestigious honor

After leaving high school with a 2.08 GPA, Hadi Kamara credits his time in the Air Force and at Northern Virginia Community College for guiding him to find his focus and purpose.

By Aimee Cho, News4 reporter • Published November 28, 2025 • Updated 6 hours ago

With just a 3% acceptance rate, the Rhodes Scholarship at the University of Oxford is one of the most prestigious graduate programs in the world. One of this year’s winners is from right here in Alexandria. ... Rhodes Scholar Hadi Kamara hopes his story shows people it’s never too late to achieve your dreams.

"I actually ended up leaving high school with a 2.08 GPA, right? That's not the first thing that people think of when they hear 'Rhodes scholar,' right?" Kamara said. ... But he is here to prove everyone wrong. ... Raised in Alexandria by a single mom who emigrated from Sierra Leone, Kamara enlisted in the U.S. Air Force out of high school in 2019 and became a flying crew chief, in charge of making sure the airplanes were safe.

"You can't be someone who lacks discipline. You can't be undisciplined because it doesn't just affect you, right?" he said. "A lack of performance or a lack of ability to adhere to standards puts other people in danger. And so when you're in a situation like that, even as a teenager, it forces you to grow up a little faster."

During his time in the military, Kamara spent his weekends taking online classes at Northern Virginia Community College, also known as Nova. That's where, he says, he grew to love learning.

{snip}